The present invention relates to an apparatus which is to be used in the maintenance of devices for the individual protection of respiratory organs against dust. In particular, the apparatus may be applied to the regeneration of filters for antidust respirators.
This invention may be used in the manufacture of building materials, in the chemical, mining and milling industries, as well as in agriculture, where labor conditions require the employment of devices for the individual protection of respiratory organs against dust.
Known to the field is an apparatus for the regeneration of the filters of antidust respirators. It consists of a hollow casing, a driven pump, and adapters for mounting the filter to be regenerated and for subsequently checking its resistance after regeneration.
An air throttle is arranged within the casing and communicates, via air conduits, with the adapters for measuring the resistance of a respirator with an incorporated filter or a filter. A pressure gauge is located outside the casing and fixed thereto. The throttle is used to maintain a constant air flow rate of 30 l/min.
The apparatus described above operates as follows. The filter to be regenerated is mounted with its dust-clogged side inward of facing the adapter. Then a shutter, is opened to establish communication between the adapter and the suction pipe of an air blower via the interior of the casing. The air blower is turned on, and air pumped through the filter cleans the dust from it. The cleaning operation may be accelerated by either shaking the filter or removing coarse particles of dust with a brush before connecting the filter to the apparatus. Usually, 30-40 seconds are required for cleaning one filter. In order to determine the resistance of the regenerated filter, it is removed from the adapter and placed in another adapter fixed to the casing of the apparatus. The first adapter is closed by the shutter. Then the air blower is put into operation, and air is admitted to the second adapter, via the throttle. The resistance of the clean filter is recorded by the pressure gauge.
In order to determine the resistance of a respirator incorporating the filter, a replaceable adapter is used which is mounted in place of the second adapter mentioned above. The resistance of the respirator incorporating the filter is checked in the manner already described.
This apparatus has a number of disadvantages, and one of them is that the blowing is unidirectional without intermittent shaking of the filter, so that the results of the regeneration are impaired.
Another disadvantage is that the checking of the resistance of the clean filter requires its transferral from one adapter to another, which results in an additional time loss. Furthermore, in order to check the resistance of the respirator incorporating the filter, one adapter must be replaced by another, and the operation of the apparatus becomes more complicated and time consuming. All of these disadvantages decrease the capacity of the device.
The purpose of the new invention is to provide an apparatus for the regeneration of the filters of antidust respirators through a construction which enables an improved efficiency of regeneration and an elevation of the capacity of the apparatus.